Sunday, March 16, 2014

Cortita


   During my regular morning walks in Golden Gate Park I see a variety of animals; ducks, birds, sometimes raccoons and skunks, and of course, squirrels. To one other, squirrels must be easily recognizable, but to me, it is hard to differentiate between them. There are a few that I seem to recognize because of some feature (I give them silly names like "Gordo", "Tiny" and "Flaco"), but only one that I really can be sure that when I see it on different days, that it's the same squirrel. I call her (I'll get more into the gender in a moment) "Cortita", which is a reference to her being "short" of tail (It's really just a stub). I can be relatively sure that it's the same squirrel that I see, because in addition to it lacking a long, fluffy tail, I also see this squirrel in the same general area every time, this over a period of about a year and a half.
   Regarding gender, I had assumed that this particular animal was in fact "Cortito", that is, a male, because it is rather large, but recently realized that it is in fact female, because I saw it one day with what looked to be bedding in it's mouth, and after a little research learned that only the female of the species raise their young (the males are basically "wham, bam, thank you ma'am"when it comes to mating and child rearing). I guess that I am also a sexist when it comes to female squirrels.
   The reason that I was moved to write here about this one particular squirrel is that she has become something important to me, a kind of friend that I see regularly during a time of tranquility in my day, myself being a person who at times feels a little different and a bit defective when it comes to my place in the world. I don't know why she has only a stub instead of a tail (a birth defect, a fight perhaps), but I see Cortita as a very capable being that is able to make her own way in life, and besides feeling like I actually care for her, she is an inspiration too.


                                                  Cortita's unique side